


Coming Back To Where You Started

by WildflowerWoods



Series: Cryptid Black Bulls [2]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Knew Henry, Black Bulls Squad (Black Clover), Black Bulls Squad as Family (Black Clover)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29026821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildflowerWoods/pseuds/WildflowerWoods
Summary: The squad captains all knew each other. The majority of them knew plenty about each others' squads as well. The one squad none of them knew very much about though, was the Black Bulls. A grand total of five members out of who knows how many (a lot more than five) recruited from the exams, and only one that Yami ever really took out with him. The Black Bulls were mysterious indeed.So, when the invitations came for a captains meeting at the Black Bulls hideout, they all accepted. After all, the only people before that to have seen the Black Bulls hideout were the wizard king himself and the head of the infirmary (the man had apparently had to make a few house calls over the years as the Bulls refused to come to the infirmary unless absolutely necessary).However, one thing was certain. Whatever they were expecting from the Black Bulls, it wasn't what they got.
Relationships: Black Bulls Ensemble & Yami Sukehiro
Series: Cryptid Black Bulls [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2126286
Comments: 71
Kudos: 190





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after the Star Festival but before the Royal Knights exam.
> 
> I thought about setting it a bit earlier, but Mereoleona's one of my favourite captains and I just had to include her.
> 
> Also, it says five members were recruited during the exams because, according to the Wiki, everyone aside from Finral, Gordon, Magna, Luck and Asta were recruited outside of the exams.

_Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colours. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving._

_\- Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full Of Sky_

* * *

"Are you going to tell us what's going on?" Charlotte asked as Julius entered the room. "What could possibly be so important as to call a meeting so soon after the Star Festival?" Of course, the Star Festival was just the other day. As far as they were aware, he had no reason to call them in. Nothing had changed in terms of the Eye of the Midnight Sun.

"As you know, the Royal Knight exam is coming up. In light of this, Yami has agreed to let you captains meet his squad." Julius paused to let that sink in.

"And, just where are we meeting the Black Bulls?" Nozel asked. the man must be eager to see his youngest sister again.

"At their hideout of course." Julius smiled as his captains stared at him.

"Yami. Is letting us meet his Bulls. At their hideout." Jack repeated. " _Yami._ " Okay, Jack's disbelief was fair. The only Black Bulls aside from Yami any of them had ever properly met was Finral Roulacase and Asta of Hage and that was only because the spatial mage was Yami's main form of transport and the anti-magic wielder had been needed to get information from the Eye of the Midnight Sun. His old friend was very careful when it came to his squad, doing everything he could to keep them hidden and protected.

"How did you get Yami to agree?" William asked. "Why now? You've been trying for years."

"Due to the activities of the Eye of the Midnight Sun, the Diamond Kingdom and the Spade Kingdom, there is a very good chance we will end up having to go to war. And, if we do, his group being a complete unknown even to us would put them at a massive disadvantage." Yami wanted what was best for his squad and, for a group of people hurt by the world, more often than not the best thing for them was a place they could go where they wouldn't be found But, as the attack on the capital had shown, the Black Bulls being a complete mystery to anyone other than Yami meant that they were wild cards that could easily distract another magic knight at a crucial time, costing lives. No, for the good of the kingdom it was better that Yami's squad were introduced _before_ war broke out.

"Lord Julius?" Marx asked, one of his floating communication windows opening up. "The captain of the Black Bulls and his spatial mage have arrived."

"Send them in." Yami strode in, Finral at his heels with a hood covering his face as per usual. The younger mage seemed nervous, and Julius had to wonder if Yami actually told him why they were there.

"Okay." Yami started "First things first, if you hurt any of my squad I won't hesitate to set the rest of them on you." No rection from Finral. He was worried about something else then. Most likely how the Black Bulls and the captains would react to each other if Julius had to guess.

"What are a bunch of brats going to do?" Jack asked, cackling slightly and clearly trying to wind Yami up. As far as most people knew Yami himself was the oldest of his squad at twenty-eight with the majority of them being in their late teens or early twenties. "hit us with sticks?"

"We can throw a tree at you if you want." Finral offered before Yami and Jack could get into another fight. A surprising comment for the usually cowardly spatial mage. Well, Yami had said that the Underwater temple mission had done wonders for his confidence. Of course, there was also the fact that Jack wouldn't be allowed to hurt Finral as long as Yami was in the room. "Or Luck can just throw Magna at you." Yami had also mentioned that little incident. The 'Crackling Magna Typhoon' was it? Yami glanced back at his subordinate.

"Nobody's throwing anything at anybody." He ordered in a tone that left no room for argument. "And drop the hood."

"But you said-"

"I know what I said. And now I'm telling you to drop it. As annoying as it is, Julius is right about letting them meet you all before a war breaks out."

"Aw, captain, you do care." Finral- teased? as he dropped his hood, revealing his sandy brown hair and purple eyes. He was smirking at his captain, clearly enjoying himself.

"Shut it." Yami ordered before turning back to the rest of the captains. "Right. Finral, you know who they all are. You all know who Finral is. Take us back to the hideout."

"Right, Captain Yami." Finral pulled out his grimoire, quickly opening a portal before looking at his captain "Uh, are you going to warn them?" Ah, of course, the other captains had no idea just how chaotic the Black Bulls could be.

"Nope. They'll see for themselves soon enough."

* * *

"Captain. It's quiet." Finral muttered as they arrived at the hideout. The building looked exactly the same as it did when they left, down to the scorch marks and puddles around the front door. But, as Finral had pointed out, it was quiet.

"I know." Yami replied. His Bulls being quiet was rarely a good thing. Quiet meant that they were up to something. Last time it had been this quiet the resulting fight had almost burnt the forest down and they'd had to move where the base was. Thank god for Henry and his magic, it was the only reason they weren't homeless.

A sudden explosion followed by Magna and Luck yelling at each other made the other captains startle but Yami and Finral just relaxed. Noise. They weren't going to burn the forest down again then. Not that day at any rate.

"Hey, Finral, bet you Luck stole Magna's desert again."

"That's a fools bet and I'm not taking it." Finral replied as they reached the front doors. Right. This was it. The end of the mystery of the Black Bulls. His fellow squad captains would finally get to meet the dumbasses he'd kept hidden from the world for so long. But still, it's better that they meet his squad now than one of his squad ending up hurt or worse because of his stubbornness.

Yami shoved the doors open and smirked at the shocked sounds from the other captains.

The main room looked pretty much the same as it always did. It was large, and lavishly decorated, a mezzanine running around the inside of the room. All in all, it looked like a welcoming room of any big house if it wasn't for the occupants. Gauche was talking to his sister, or maybe it was a picture, Yami never really knew with him. Vanessa was lounging on one of the couches surrounded by empty bottles and complaining about her hangover, eh, at least she was awake for once. Gordon was in the corner writing in a book. Charmy's sheep cooks could be seen in the kitchen bustling about as the mage in question sat at a table eating. Grey was in the corner with her hands over her face, probably whimpering about how embarrassing the Black Bulls were. Asta was doing strength training, that day's exercise appeared to be push-ups. Noelle was reading a book at the table next to him, petting Nero with her free hand. Magna was screaming something about a flan. Luck was laughing. The two were also throwing fire and lightning all over the room as they fought, or rather as Magna tried to hit Luck while he dodged around. Everyone else was ignoring them, as per usual.

"They're at it again." Finral stated, pointing out the obvious. Honestly, there were moments when Yami wondered if Finral though he was blind. Yami could see that Magna and Luck were at it again. There was no need for Finral to point it out.

"Introducing the absolute worst magic knight squad, the Black Bulls." Yami stated, tuning out the usual antics of his dumbasses

"They're always like this?" Charlotte asked, staring in horror at the chaos.

"Pretty much." Finral replied. The Black Bulls still hadn't noticed them. Well, Gordon was looking at them but nobody was listening to him.

"OI!" Yami yelled, hitting the wall. "Stop breaking stuff!" The room froze, Luck landing on his ass after freezing mid bounce.

" _Captain!_ " As one, the Black Bulls rushed forwards, talking over each other. Yami ignored them all, instead watching the other captain's reactions to his excited squad.

The kid, Rill, looked just as excited, staring at them all with wide eyes, probably surprised to see how many of them were young. Willaim seemed impressed by the size of his squad. Nozel really only had eyes for Noelle, which was fair, he hadn't seen his youngest sister since Yami took her in. Jack was probably about three seconds away from taking Luck up on his offer to fight. Mereoleona didn't look particularly impressed with their situational awareness, she'd better not steal some of his squad members again. Dorothy was asleep, as per usual. Charlotte was still horrified by the chaos. The new Purple Orcas captain, Kaiser or something, looked like he was about to turn and walk back out the door, which Yami wouldn't be against. He didn't want any of that squad near his unless they absolutely had to be. Not after what their last leader did to Finral. Julius looked as amused as he always did when he met the Black Bulls.

* * *

Willaim watched as Yami started laughing at the antics of the base's occupants. This- this mess of misfits was Yami's prized squad? These were the people he was determined to keep hidden from the world? They really didn't look or sound like much, but they'd been able to defeat Vetto of the third eye, so there must be more to them than could be seen at a quick glance. Though, Willaim had to wonder if anyone had taught these children about first impressions and situational awareness. They hadn't even realised that anyone else was there until Yami yelled.

"Yeah, yeah. Glad to know how much you missed me. Now, shut up will ya?" William was expecting them to ignore him, to go back to talking to him or to their various- activities. He was expecting the noise and chaos to continue, for the squad to keep on being rowdy. What he wasn't expecting was-

"Sorry, sir" What he wasn't expecting was nine rowdy squad members sat in a row. A neat row, with their legs tucked under them.

"As you can see, we have guests." Yami gestured to the assembled captains and the Black Bulls stared at them like they hadn't even realised anyone other than their captain was there. Then again, this was probably the first time they'd ever _had_ guests that weren't new squad members. Finral Roulacase was the only spatial mage to know the location of the hideout, and it was possible to spend days flying around the country looking for the Black Bulls hideout and not find it.

"Uh, should we have our hoods up then?" a rough looking young man with purple sunglasses asked. Willaim was sure he was the one who had been swinging fire magic around earlier, presumably the same one that used fire magic during that year's entrance exam.

"No. They're here to meet you all. Julius insisted." Yami replied. There was a murmer of understanding from the Black Bulls.

"Does that mean we're gonna do a baptism?" A blond jumped ot his feet, punching the air "I wanna fight something!" Ah, Willaim could put a name to his face after that comment. Luck Voltia, the Cheery Berserker.

"No." Yami shut him down and Luck pouted, sitting back down. "Finral, introduce them." the captain of the Black Bulls ordered, ignoring Luck.

"Sure thing sir. Let's start with the ones most of you probably already know. First we have our residant royal, Noelle Silva. She's a water mage with some really strong attack magic. She often throws water at us for no apparent reason, but she's a good person." Nozel looked slightly bemused by the throwing water comment but William personally found the last comment more concerning, was Finral really going to introduce them all with 'but they're a good person'?

"A pleasure." Noelle stated, inclining her head slightly.

"Next to her is Asta of Hage. He's the wielder of the anti-magic swords and has a strange rivalry with his childhood friend Yuno, from the Golden Dawn, over who's going to become the Wizard King first. He has an obession with strength training, but he's a good person." Apparently Finral _was_ going to introduce them all with 'but they're a good person' "Oh, the bird's Nero by the way."

"Hi!" The anti-magic boy waved, a bright smile on his face.

"Hey! Do me next!" The lightning mage had jumped to his feet and was getting in Finral's face, his magic sparking slightly.

"Luck Voltia. You probably know him better as Luck the Cheery Berserker. He's a battle freak with lighting magic who's addicted to fighting, but he's a good person."

"Nice meeting you." Luck cheered before getting into a fighting stance "Hey, do you like to fight?"

"No fighting the captains." Yami ordered and Luck sat back down, pouting.

"Aww"

"Alright." Finral stated, acting like nothing had happened and that Luck being disappointed that he wasn't allowed ot fight someone far stronger than him was a normal thing.. "Let's continue, shall we?" He gestured to the mage that had been throwing fire around earlier. "Next to Luck is the other half of our resident chaos duo, Magna Swing. A street punk with fire magic who often fights with Luck, usually because Luck stole his desert, but he's a good person." he certainly looked like a street punk with that hair stlye and those glasses. William didn't recognise the surname, so he had to be some sort of commoner.

"Hey." Magna offered.

"The quiet one at the end of the line is the other person recruited from the exams. Gordon Agrippa. He's our resident hex expert and he had poison magic. Not always the easiet guy to talk to but he's a good person." Gordon waved, muttering something.

"Now, on to the people you probably don't recognise. This here's Charmy Pappitson." Finral gestured to a small girl who looked like she beonged in a school rather than a magic knight squad. "Don't let her size, her innocent face or the fact that she's got cotton magic fool you, she's a fighter. She's also a big eater but she's a good person."

"Nice to meet ya!" the apparently-not-a-small-child greeted.

"Next, we have Vanessa Enoteca." finral gestured to a woman with pink hair, a witch's hat and- no clothes. She was dressed in her underwear and that was it. Did Yami have no standards for his squad? "She's the Black Bulls' resident witch and she's got thread magic. Her cat's called Rouge. Vanessa tends to pick fights when she's drunk, but she's a good person."

"Picking fights? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Hey." The man at the end of the line with his hair covering one eye stood up, waving a picture of a small girl around. "See her? My sister Marie. She's an angel."

"Sit down Gauche." Yami ordered, the man sat down, scowling slightly as Finral smiled brightly.

"Gauche Adlai. Loves his sister a bit much, and will blast anyone that looks at her wrong with his mirror magic, but he's a good person." William recognised that name. It was the name of an escaped convict. Yami had an escaped convict in his squad. Why did Yami have an escaped convict in his squad? Who thought that was a good idea? Why in Clover had Julius allowed that?

"Finally we have Grey." Finral pointed to the last person in the row, a small woman with light blue hair cut very short. "She's shy, easily embarressed and for the longest time she used her transformation magic to hide her true self, but she's a good person." Grey squeaked, curling up into an even smaller ball. 

"You already know me and my magic but for a recap, I'm Finral Roulacase, I have spatial magic and spend most of my time opening portals to places this lot are too lazy to walk to." He gestured to the Bulls still sat in a row. "And, of course, next to you is our fearless leader, the Lord of Destruction, Yami Sukehiro."

* * *

"Right," Yami said as soon as Finral had finished introducing everyone. "Get lost. All of you." There was a collective moan from his Bulls.

"Hey, I thought you said they came to meet all of us!" Magna protested.

"They did. They also came to have a meeting. A _classified_ meeting. Not to gawk at you idiots."

"But captain-" Vanessa started to say something but Yami cut her off.

"If you're incapable of entertaining yourselves without causing mass destruction I can always find something for you to do."

"You really don't need to do that captain" Noelle was quick to answer, clearly remembering what happened the last time Yami had decided what the entire squad was going to be doing. They'd somehow both flooded and burnt the surrounding area at the same time thanks to Luck suggesting that Magna and Noelle try a combo attack.

Then again, the last time Yami had let them do something _without_ instructions, Luck got a broken leg, a concussion and several burns, Magna fractured two ribs and ended up covered in lighting marks and Finral got a broken wrist, a concussion _and_ burns from both fire and lighting. Gauche had been the only one involved in that incident to walk away unscathed and it resulted in a 'Don't target Finral' rule. Some might call it a bit much but without Finral they were basically stranded in the middle of nowhere. So, no targeting Finral.

"Too late." Yami stated, enjoying the looks of horror on their faces "Luck, Magna, that was an impressive combo move you pulled off at the Underwater Temple. See if you can recreate it." They were so used to fighting each other that when they worked together they didn't even need to look at over to know what the other was going to do.

"Yes sir, captain Yami sir!" Magna sated, saluting. Luck just cheered.

"Charmy, give them something to aim at will you." Charmy- Yami usually just left Charmy to her own devices when it came to magic. She wasn't fully human, he knew that much, but he didn't know _what_ she was and figured she knew how to train that part of herself best. She was great when it came to giving other people targets though.

"Yes, captain, la."

"Grey, work on that transformation thing you did in the caves, making the rock look like meat." Transformation magic that worked on something other than the transformation mage wasn't something Yami had ever heard of before, but his squad was full of unusual magic. The best thing to do was help her work on it and kick some ass with spells people weren't expecting. "See if you can do anything else. Gordon, see if you can find anything in your book to help her with it." Gordon, much like Charmy, knew his own magic and capabilities. He didn't need Yami telling him what to do with it all the time.

"Noelle, great work on your magic control." the princess had improved in leaps and bounds since joining the squad. Yami was glad that he hadn't laughed Nozel out the door for suggesting his youngest sister join the Black Bulls "Go see how many Sea Dragon's Roars you can do in a row. Asta, work on your flexibility a bit. Blocking and sending the attack back is all well and good but learn to dodge too. You can't block everything." Asta didn't have magic to fill the gaps in his defence. it was crucial that he knew how to doge anything he couldn't block.

"Right." They said together.

"Vanessa, throw things at him." Vanessa had full control over her magic. Any training exercise he could give her would be useless. But throwing things at Asta meant that she had to be on guard for him sending things back and encouraged her to find new ways to use her thread magic to hit him with things.

"Time to learn to dodge kiddo!" The witch cheered.

"Finral-" Yami paused. After the traitor reveal, the Underwater temple and the witches forest, Yami really didn't want to tell Finral to push himself. He also needed Finral to have enough mana to portal everyone back to the capital after the meeting, "You know what you're capable of and what you need to work on. Don't get yourself hurt."

"Yes, Yami."

* * *

"You've collected quite the squad of misfits, Yami." Julius noted as they sat down in a rarely used meeting room towards the top of the house. He'd been expecting the Black Bulls to end up as a squad of misfits, that's exactly what Yami set out to create, but the teens and young adults practising outside were a bit more chaotic than he'd envisioned.

"You say that like you never went around collecting misfits yourself, Julius." Yami shot back. Well, Julius had to admit that he had a point. Yami himself was one of Julius' misfits after all, as was William. Their magic had been what caught his eye at first, such unique power from both of them, in Clover at least. Who knew how common their magics were outside the four suit kingdoms. Dark Magic may be the most common sort of magic in Yami's homeland, the Land of the Rising Sun. Such a shame that they'd closed their borders all those centuries ago, but he rather liked having Yami around so Julius wasn't going to say anything about it.

"You have an escaped convict on your squad," William stated, and Julius remembered when hed signed off on the form allowing Yami to have Gauche in his squad.

"Yep," Yami replied, smirking. But Gauche is clean now that he doesn't have to worry about providing for his sister, so there's no reason to get so worked up about it.".

"Julius, why did you let him have an escaped convict in his squad?" William demanded, turning to Julius "Why did you think that was a good idea?"

"Is this your way of asking if you can have an escaped convict in your squad William?" Julius asked in response.

"Absolutely not. Yami, why is your witch not wearing any clothes?" Willaim had turned back to Yami by that point, completely ignoring everyone else.

"Vanessa? If she wants to wander around in her underwear I'm not gonna stop her." And there was a story there, Julius just knew there was, even if he didn't know the story itself. Yami said that Vanessa was one half of the reason he chose to make his squad so mysterious after all. "It's only in the base she considers clothes to be optional."

"She greeted us in her underwear."

"She does that."

"I highly doubt you called this meeting _just_ so we could meet the Black Bulls." Charlotte said while taking her seat, interrupting before William could say anything more about the Black Bulls that allowed Yami to wind him up further.

"No." Julius admitted, "But you needed to meet the Black Bulls before we could." Teamwork beyond just fighting next to someone was something Yami's squad excelled at, and was something the other eight needed to learn. Oh, they could fight alongside each other well enough, but they didn't _work together_ the way Yami's squad did, mixing magics and skills to create combos and moves a normal unit of mages would be incapable of pulling off.

"Explain." Nozel stated, demanded really, short and to the point.

"As you are all fully aware, the biggest threat to the kingdom right now is the Eye of the Midnight Sun. Some of you" He looked at Yami, Nozel, Charlotte and Jack, "Have fought their high ranking members. According to every single report, they were tough."

"They completely outclassed us." Charlotte admitted, staring at the table. "If not for their retreat..." she trailed off. it wasn't hard to fill in the gaps. If it wasn't for the Third Eye's retreat, they'd be down four captains and three additional Black Bulls, including their anti-magic wielder and one of the best spatial mages in the country. Not to mention the small village nearby Noelle was in at that point in time.

"Between them, the Black Bulls have taken down two of the three members of the Third Eye." He stated, watching the disbelief, horror and shock flash across his captain's faces.

"They _what_?" Nozel hissed, clearly unimpressed by the danger his youngest sister had been in.

"Hey" Yami interrupted "Noelle blasted that beast guy's arm off. I mean, it grew back but that's still more damage than the rest of them managed to do before I got down there."

"What do you mean, _before you got down there_?" Nozel practically yelled, his chair falling over as he stood, looming over Yami furiously. Yami, as per usual, didn't react, though the walls of the building did start shaking.

"Calm down Henry!" Yami yelled at the wall, completely unconcerned, before turning back to Nozel as the building settled. "Long story short, it was a friendly match between my Bulls and the Underwater Temple mages before the Midnight Sun crashed the party. I was in a separate room with the temple leader watching the fight and we got stuck there for a bit. The Midnight Sun had a spatial mage who could trap an area in another dimension. Not an easy thing to break out of."

"Hey, who's Henry?" Rill asked before Nozel and Yami could get into a full-blown argument.

"Henry Legolant. He's the house. Kinda. It's his magic that makes everything move around at least. He wasn't downstairs for various reasons, mostly because he tends to drain the mana of people nearby without meaning to."

"Drains mana-" an explosion from outside cut Mereoleona off.

"Whoops!" The yell, that sounded a lot like Luck, echoed up the building. Yami groaned.

"YAMI!" someone else, Julius was sure it was Vanessa, shouted. A portal opened up, Finral sticking his head though.

"What have you idiots done now?" Yami growled before the spatial mage had fully entered the room.

"Okay, first of all, I had nothing to do with this." Yami glared and Finral wilted slightly. "We may have created a lake" he admitted sheepishly

"Again?" Yami asked, standing up. "I can't leave you morons alone for more than five minutes, can I?"

"Right." Julius stood up. "Finral, if you could portal myself and Yami back to my office. It appears we have another landmark to add to the map. I assume the rest of you will be capable of handling the Black Bulls whilst we're gone. It shouldn't take too long."

"We can handle a bunch of brats." Jack said.

"A bunch of brats that may well try to throw a tree at you." Finral shot back.

"Finral. Portal." Yami ordered, cutting off the argument before it could start. "And you'd better not hurt my squad."

* * *

William watched Julius, Yami and Finral step through the portal before looking out the window at the mages outside. It was nine people, how hard could controlling them be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not meant to be a two-parter but oh well. The next part should be up some time next week.


	2. Chapter 2

"Captain's gone!" Luck stated about five minutes after Finral had opened a portal to the meeting room upstairs. the Black Bulls had relocated to the common room after their practice, the new lake outside making it hard to fight due to the lack of solid ground to stand on. "Finral and the Wizard King too. The other captains are still here though." He jumped onto the back of the sofa as he spoke, balancing on it as he walked along with his arms outstretched.

"That's unusual," Vanessa admitted, perching on the bar and pulling a bottle out from underneath it. "He normally doesn't even let Owen or the Wizard King stay without him."

"Maybe it's a test," Noelle suggested, picking up the book she'd been reading before the captains arrived. "It would be like him to turn this into a test, make it a chance to push past our limits and all that."

"Yeah, but a test for who?" Magna asked, dropping into a chair and kicking his feet up onto the table. "Us or them?"

"Hmm, that's a good question." Vanessa muttered, "Is he testing to see how they react to us running wild or is he testing whether or not we'll actually listen to another authority figure?" She looked over the rest of the Bulls as she spoke, with both Yami and Finral gone, she was generally considered to be the most senior member of the squad so keeping an eye on them fell to her.

"Them" Asta replied without any hesitation.

"What was that, little Rasta?"

"He's testing them. After what happened at the captains meeting before the Underwater Temple mission, he's gotta be testing them."

"The traitor captain, that's right." Noelle agreed. Yami had been furious when he came back, several hours later than they were supposed to return, Asta and a still injured Finral in tow. While they weren't allowed to talk about the details, Yami had practically ranted about how the traitor thought he could just grab Finral and run, like Yami would actually let him take one of the Black Bulls. "Captain Yami probably wants to know if he can trust the rest of them with us or not, and here is by far the best place to do it. We know this building. They don't." The squad went quiet for a moment, considering her words.

"Hey, Vanessa?" Luck asked, jumping over to the table Magna had his feet on.

"Yes, Luck?" Vanessa asked, putting her bottle down to properly look at the lightning mage.

"Well, we're the smallest squad so they're used to larger groups, right?" Luck stated, starting to bounce in place with lightning sparking off him.

"Yes, that's right."

"And Captain Yami's testing them, right?" Magna butted in, clearly getting where Luck was going with his questions, even if nobody else had.

"Yes, we've established that Yami's testing them."

"So do we really need to be on our best behaviour?" The chaotic duo asked together. Vanessa laughed.

"I don't see why we should, to be honest." she replied, already pitying the Magic Knight Captains "This is a test, and we're the Black Bulls. Mysterious, unorthodox and destructive chaos is what we do, after all. It's not really a test if we don't go all out now, is it?" A massive smile spread across Luck's face as he turned to Noelle, the last person who might be able to stop him.

"It is only fair that we let the other eight captains know what they're getting into," Noelle stated carefully. Oh good, she was agreeing. Noelle was the one most likely to shoot down Luck and Magna's chaotic plans, so the fact that she agreed meant that there was no way of stopping them even if Vanessa wanted to. "What sort of Magic Knights would we be if we weren't honest from day one?"

"Noelle approves!" Luck cheered "Let's go cause some chaos!"

"Hey, Henry!" Asta called, knocking on the wall with a massive grin on his face, "A bit of help?" The walls started to shake in response, and the Black Bulls broke into cheers.

Let the games begin!

* * *

Hidden away in his room, Henry Legolant laughed as he rearranged the base to make it far more maze-like than it had been before. The Magic Knight Captains had no idea what they were dealing with, the poor things.

The Black Bulls only listened to people they respected.

The only captain they respected was Yami Sukehiro.

Without him, the Wizard King or Owen from the infirmary, the other captains would be fighting an uphill battle.

Henry felt a bit sorry for them, not enough to tone down the chaos though.

* * *

Shortly after Yami, the Wizard King and the spatial mage left, the room started shaking again.

"What's going on?" Rill asked, gripping the table tightly to stop himself from falling over. Were the Black Bulls under attack? of course, that would happen to one time they got to meet the squad. Wait-

"Yami did say he had a mage who could make the building move," Charlotte replied, the most likely scenario was that this unknown mage was making the building shake. "Though why it's moving is a mystery to me."

When the building finally ground to a halt, Charlotte cautiously opened the meeting room door, not quite sure what she was expecting but a wall that hadn't been there before certainly wasn't it.

"Well, the base has definately moved," Jack cackled as Charlotte shut the door without a word. Magic that could move buildings. That was a new one to her, and she'd seen a lot of different types of magic in her time as a Magic Knight. Then again, Yami's magic was something she'd never seen before or since either. It made sense for his squad to also have unusual magic.

"I think," William stated carefully, staring at the door "that Yami is testing us." Well, that was certainly something to consider. Something very likely, all things considered. Yami never mentioned any of his squad unless he absolutely had to. Bringing them all here could be explained away by Julius insisting, but Yami willingly leaving while they were all still there was not.

"Explain." Mereoleona demanded, slamming her fist down on the table. Of course, she'd never really met Yami before the Star Festival, she had no idea what he was like with his squad.

"After what happened with Gueldre and Yami's spatial mage," and that hadn't been pretty. Gueldre would be scarred for life when he finally healed and Charlotte was certain the only reason he was still alive was because Julius wanted to question the traitor captain. "I can't imagine that Yami would be very quick to trust us with any of his squad again, never mind all of us." Though, he had taken the spatial mage that had been hurt last time.

"Yami has always been protective of his squad" Charlotte admitted. "A test to see whether or not he could actually trust us with their safety _is_ something he would do."

"And this is their hideout, that apparently moves," Nozel stated. "They certainly have the advantage in terms of terrain."

"But- we have no idea what most of them can do." Rill pointed out " _Everyone_ knows what we're capable of." So, the boy could speak sense when he wanted to.

"We have far more power than they do though." Mereoleona scoffed "They don't even notice when someone walks through the door of their hideout."

"We do have more mana than them." William admitted "But the majority of us also have More than Yami and he has, on occasion, beaten us in fights. The question isn't, 'how much power do they have?' but instead 'how well do they use it?'"

"The Black Bulls _are_ known for being unorthodox," Charlotte admitted. "But they're still all Magic Knights, there are rules they have to follow."

"And how many of those rules does their captain follow?" Jack cackled. He had a point, Yami broke rules whenever he felt like it and only ever listened when Julius scolded him for it.

* * *

Finral sighed as he stared at the device in his hands. Why was he the one doing this? It was Yami and the Wizard King's idea. One of them should be doing it. But Yami had thrown the communicator to Finral and told him to get on with it. Well, there was nothing else for it. Taking a deep breath and praying that nobody tried to kill him for this, Finral turned it on.

In both the common room and the meeting room, a communicator came to life.

"Hi." Finral stated, "As you've all figured out by now, this is a test." He could see two separate views on his split screen, the excited Black Bulls, from the way Luck was bouncing around they were already planning on causing chaos, and the expressionless captains glaring at him. Well, the Black Bulls were going to have fun at least, even if the captains didn't.

"Captains," He started, deciding to address the higher-ranked group first. "You have two hours to capture and contain all nine Black Bulls in the base." He announced, fighting the urge to smirk as Captain Mereoleona made a comment about how easy it would be. "This number does not include Henry Legolant." An important clarification to make. The last thing they needed was someone getting hurt because the captains tried to move Henry. "The Black Bulls are allowed to try and escape."

"Bulls, you have two hours to cause as much chaos as possible _without_ destroying the building." He emphasised the 'without' knowing that if he didn't Luck and Magna _would_ destroy something. The fact that they have a guy who can repair the building doesn't mean they can go around destroying it whenever they want. "Yami says he'll kill you if you don't at least _try_ to escape if you get caught." Translation; whoever was captured after the two-hour mark would be having extra one on one training with Yami. Finral actually let himself smile at the looks of horror on his squadmate's faces. "You are also allowed to break each other out. Henry, as you're not taking part you're not allowed to use your magic any more than you already have." With the threat of Yami's training after them, the Black Bulls were going to be trying their hardest. He might as well at least try to level the playing field a bit.

"The number of Black Bulls the captains have under control after two hours will decide which team wins." Finral turned his communicator off, sitting back in his chair. This was going to be a disaster.

* * *

The gathered captains stared at the now inactive communicator, all of them thinking the same thing. Contain nine junior level magic knights. How hard could that be?

"So." Rill said, "Does anyone actually know what they're capable of?" The answer was no. None of them really knew what Yami's squad could do. Which put them at a minor disadvantage. But only a minor one. They were magic knight captains, fighting enemies with unknown abilities was something they all did regularly.

"The young man who introduced them earlier did tell us their magic affinities." Kaiser pointed out. "As well as a brief insight into their personalities." Something, if the mutters that went around the room were to go by, nobody had really been listening to.

"The two most likely to try and combat us directly are the lightning and fire pair." Charlotte eventually stated. "They seem to be the most hotheaded and reckless of the squad."

"The lightning bug _was_ eager to fight," Jack cackled in agreement. "I can't wait to slice him up." The room went quiet again as the captains thought.

"Noelle has water magic." Nozel eventually stated "She has great power, but her control isn't always the best. I can handle her."

"I want to slice up the lightning bug, I'll get him."

"I want to know how strong Yami's fire mage is." Mereoleona added, "He appears to have more magic than your average commoner." No commoner had enough to beat Mereoleona, but it would be interesting to see how he used it.

"The convict's mirror magic _does_ sound interesting" William admitted.

"Well, I want to fight Asta." Rill stated confidently.

"I'll take the witch." Charlotte announced. She'd seen the witch's magic at the Star Festival and wanted to see how threads held up when compared to briars.

"Between us, Dorothy and I can handle the other three." Kaiser finished. There was a tense pause, as the older captains all watched each other carefully.

"Well," RIll broke the silence, cheerfully heading for the door. "we know what everyone's doing so let's go!" He threw it open and the captains were greeted by the sound of yelling. They were out of time, it seemed. The game was on, whether they were ready or not.

* * *

"Well," Vanessa stated as the communicator went dark. "It looks like we have the captains permission to run wild after all." Less permission and more orders really. None of them wanted one on one training with Yami, except Luck. But Luck was Luck.

"This is stupid." Gauche muttered, "why can't I just go visit Marie?"

"Because Captain Yami just told us to make life hell for the other captains over the next two hours." Magna replied, jumping to his feet.

"The most important thing to remember" Vanessa interrupted, grabbing both Luck and Magna with her thread magic before they could run off. "is that we don't have Finral or Henry. if we get backed into a corner, we'll have to find another way out." Or face Yami's one on one training.

"Can we fight the captains?" Luck asked, still bouncing.

"Sure Luck." Vanessa replied, "if you want to fight the captains, then you can go and fight the captains."

"Yeah! They're really strong so fighting them#s gonna be super fun!"

"The captains are probably going to split up" Noelle stated, and Vanessa had to agree. The captains were all powerful enough to think that they could take the Black Bulls down on their own. "So that will be eight different people hunting us down separately. There's nine of us." The Black Bulls all turned to look at Vanessa expectantly. Right. She was the leader so if they didn't want to lose because they were so disorganised, she had to decide what everyone was doing.

Their options were;

A) four pairs and a loner

B) three groups of three

C) a four and a five

or

D) all running off solo.

Well, the last one wasn't an option, none of them had what it took to fight a Grand Magic Knight and win, well, Luck might be able to manage it but none of the rest of them could.

They could stick in two big groups, though that was basically painting giant targets on their backs. However, a larger group meant more combo options. But Luck wouldn't stick with a large group anyway, neither would Magna or Asta, so everyone would end up running off to do their own things anyway and they'd end up in the exact same situation as they would if they just split up from the get go. Not the best idea.

Four pairs and a loner was a tempting suggestion, but then she had to think about who to pair up with who beyond the obvious Luck and Magna and Noelle and Asta. Grey and Gordon could be powerful, which left her Gauche and Charmy. Still, Luck and Magna on their own would just run straight to the captains to fight and if the captains played the way Yami did... Vanessa shuddered. No. That wasn't a risk she wanted to take.

Which left the last option. Three groups of three. Luck, Magna and Asta would be a good combo. Luck and Magna could run off and fight the captains and Asta could watch their backs with his anti-magic. Gauche was likely to run off and do his own thing no matter who Vanessa paired him with but Gordon and Grey worked well with him. Which left Vanessa with Charmy and Noelle. She could work with that.

"Right. We'll split into three teams of three. Grey, Gauche, Gordon. You three are together. Your job is to keep an eye on the captains and let the rest of us know where they are. If anyone gets captured, breaking them out's going to fall to you too. Got it?" Gauche and his mirrors were really good for passing messages quickly, Grey transformation magic meant that she could move quickly without being noticed to figure out what was going on and Gordon was quiet enough that unless they were actively looking for him, they often didn't realise he was in the room.

"Then can I go see Marie?" Gauche asked. Well, if to got him to cooperate.

"If we win, I'll talk to the captain about letting you go see Marie." With their agreement, she turned to Asta, Luck and Magna.

"Asta, Luck, Magna, you're our attack team. Go cause as much chaos as you can, fight the captains if you want, just don't destroy the buuilding." Giving those three precise orders never ended well. They were strong, and a good team, with how fast Luck and Asta could move between them they could run circles around the captains, taking Magna with them. The captains would hopefully be too busy dealing with their chaos to look for anyone else.

"Right!" Asta replied, punching the air. Luck was clapping excitedly, clearly ready to go fight a captain and Magna gave a small salute.

"Yes ma'am, Vanessa, ma'am."

"Which leaves us," Vanessa said, looking at Noelle and Charmy. "We're the backup squad. Noelle, I want you to blast any and all captains you see with your Sea Dragon's Roar. Charmy, as we've got two hours, we're going to need plenty of your mana-restoring food. And I'll be using my thread magic to pull you guys out of trouble if I need to."

"Alright." Noelle looked happy to have the chance to blast her brother with water. Good, Noelle needed to see that Nozel Silva was as human as her and in no way perfect.

"Now, we don't have any way to take the captains out of the game so there's likely going to be points where they outnumber us. However, we also don't have to worry about keeping anyone contained. They do." She looked each of her squadmates in the eye as she spoke. "That means, our best bet is to keep our strategy as hit and run for as long as we can. Don't forget, we're all junior-level magic knights. That means they'll be expecting us to be capable of less than we actually are. And remember, whatever happens, keep hold of your grimoires." Six people nodded. Noelle and Asta just looked mildly confused.

"Why-" Asta started but they didn't have any time to waste answering his questions.

"Right. Go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was not meant to get so long.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit, it's a bit short and some of these sections are lacking compared to my usual work, but I really don't feel like spending another three days messing around with it. Might come back at some point and redo it. Chapter four should be better though.  
> I also changed the time from three hours to two bc I was struggling to come up with things for them to do.

Luck laughed as he raced down the corridor, Magna's pudding in hand and said mage hot on his heels. Vanessa had said that they were supposed to be causing chaos for the other squad captains, but she never said that he couldn't mess with Magna too.

"Luck, you jerk!" Magna yelled, his fire bat already in hand. Luck laughed even louder. Winding up Magna was fun. The fire mage made the best faces when annoyed, and it was so easy to wind him up too!

"Keep up, Magna!" Luck called back as they approached the meeting room where the captains were gathered. he had no idea where Asta had gone, but hopefully, someone would come out and fight him. If fighting any of them was anything like fighting Captain Yami, it'd be loads of fun. He took a bite of the cupcake in his hand, Magna's pudding really was the best.

* * *

"Luck Voltia" William stated as the lightning mage dodged Mereoleona's fire paw. "Exceptional mana sensing skills."

"That's right." Charlotte muttered, "He spotted Yami and his spatial mage during his entrance exam." Of course, the Cheery Berserker had then challenged the Captain and the Vice-Captain of the Black Bulls to a fight. Yami, being Yami, had found it hilarious and offered the boy a place on his squad.

"That was my cupcake you little asshole!" Manga Swing yelled, glowing grimoire open in front of him. "Fire Creation Magic: Grand Slam!" For a commoner with a very limited amount of mana, Charlotte had to admit that it was an impressive amount of fireballs.

"Is that all you've got?" Luck laughed "Lighting Creation Magic: Thunder God's Boots!" One moment, the lightning mage was right next to them, the next he was down at the far end of the corridor. So, those boots greatly improved his speed then. Impressive, for a commoner.

"Get back here!" How was the commoner fire mage still summoning fireballs? He should have run out of mana by that point with the amount he'd been throwing around. Charlotte took a small step back as another of Mereoleona's fire paws shot forwards.

"The Lightning Brat might be too fast, but you're not" the Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings snapped, picking the younger fire mage up,

"Shit."

* * *

"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Waterball!" The door to the meeting room was quickly removed from its hinges, Noelle's spell tearing through Mereoleona's fire paw before slamming into the door. Nozel narrowed his eyes as he looked at his youngest sibling, the water mage standing there with her grimoire open and a wand in her hand. The Black Bulls had been good for her confidence and control then.

"And here I thought I'd told you two to stay with the group and not run off." The with of the Black Bulls, Vanessa Enoteca scolded, her thread magic wrapped around all three of the younger mages and the red cat perched on her shoulder.

"Aww, Vanessa, the fun was just getting started!" The lightning mage moaned, his boots fading away. "No fair."

"That little shit just stole my cupcake!" The fire mage yelled, "Let me at him, Vanessa!" Both grimoires were quickly picked up from where they'd fallen as the witch turned to leave.

"I'd apologise, but we're all out to cause chaos, they're just a little ahead of schedule." She called as she walked off, the trio of younger mages in tow. "Enjoy the next fifteen minutes, they're the only peace you'll be getting until Captain Yami and Finral get back."

* * *

"You're both idiots," Noelle stated, shoving Magna and Luck down. "We had a plan, then you went and ruined it. If we lose, I'm blaming this on you." Twenty minutes after she and Vanessa had retrieved Luck and Magna, Nozel Nii-Sama had found them.

Luck had thought it was a brilliant idea to challenge the Captain of the Silver Eagles to a fight. Noelle had never wanted to throttle one of her squadmates more.

And, if that wasn't enough, Jack the Ripper, Captain of the Green Praying Mantises, had also arrived with Nozel Nii-Sama.

They were trapped between two captains, Noelle's Sea Dragon's Lair the only thing keeping them from being captured. All because the two idiots with her couldn't listen to a simple order. 'Stay with the group' was not complicated. It wasn't hard to understand, nor was it hard to do. But no. Luck just _had_ to go and steal Magna's pudding.

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Magna protested, tipping Noelle over the edge she'd been so very carefully balanced on since this whole thing started.

"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!"

* * *

"Stop, Witch" Charlotte called. The pink-haired woman froze, turning to face her.

"So, we meet again." the Witch greeted. "And here I thought we'd shown you up enough at the Star Festival." Charlotte scowled, glaring at the pink-haired woman. "to be beaten by the Black Bulls, what an embarrassment." At least, Charlotte thought to herself, they'd still come in fourth overall.

"Says the woman whose squad appeared in a mad scramble because you weren't expecting to do that well." Charlotte replied, drawing her sword and sending briars forwards. The witch smiled, pink threads spreading out to cover the corridor. "I won't lose to you this time."

"We'll see about that."

* * *

"How're we doing with that food, Charmy?" Asta called as he sliced another paint attack from Rill in two. The Captain of the Aqua Deer was laughing as he sent more and more paint constructs Asta's way.

Asta was sure the older boy had been quieter when they'd met at the captains meeting. Then again, he'd also seemed less eager to fight then too. He hadn't been laughing about a good fight like Luck did at least.

Asta did not like the realisation that Rill and Luck were more alike than they first seemed.

"It's all finished!" Charmy yelled back, "let's go!"

"Leaving already?" Rill asked, pouting slightly "but we've only just started! I still need to work on my masterpiece!" Asta yelped as a giant construct tried to steal his sword. He was getting nowhere with this, he needed a better plan.

Rill's mana didn't stop Asta from just punching him.

* * *

"This way!" Gauche yelled, turning down a small side corridor, Grey and Gordon right behind him. He didn't want to be playing this game, he'd much rather talk to Marie, but one on one training with Captain Yami meant that he couldn't sneak off to see her anywhere near as easily. "There should be a trap door down to the laundry down here somewhere." He'd stumbled across it by accident once, while looking for somewhere to put up a Marie shrine. Behind them, Mereoleona roared as she tore through Gordon's poison cloud. Not good. Where was that laundry chute?

"There!" Grey yelled, pointing to a small silver door in the floor. Gordon wasted no time in pulling it open. "Gauche-" Grey started.

"Go!" Gauche cut her off. "We're nearing the end of the game! The longer we can keep running, the better." Grey nodded, jumping down the chute after Gordon. Gauche turned to face the current Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings. "Mirror Magic: Reflect Refrain!"

* * *

"There you are" William stated, watching the two Black Bulls at the end of the corridor. "We have half an hour to gather you all before Yami gets back." The blue-haired one whimpered, hiding her face "I'd rather not have to admit that we failed his little test." The two in front of him had been hiding for the majority of the game, only really showing themselves as distractions. That was two annoying ones out of the way at least.

William had a new respect for Yami after this, wrangling such a chaotic squad was not an easy thing to do. The lightning and fire mage working together were an absolute pain William never wanted to have to deal with again.

He picked the pair up with his magic, dropping them in the vortex Kaiser had created to keep the Black Bulls contained. They brought the count of captured Bulls up to six, three more to go.

"Who are we missing?" Rill asked as William reached the group. A good question. He paused, looking over the group in the vortex.

Nozel's little sister was in the corner, yelling at the fire and lightning pair.

There was the two William had just added, and the small one that looked like she should be at school.

"The witch, the anti-magic boy and the mirror boy," William replied.

"Just the witch and the anti-magic boy, actually" Mereoleona called, dropping a very disgruntled looking young man into the vortex prison.

"Half an hour to go."

* * *

Vanessa cursed quietly as she spotted the rest of the Black Bulls. She'd finally managed to give Captain Charlotte Roselei the slip, but while she'd been distracted everyone else aside from Asta had been rounded up.

She paused at the sound of yelling. Familiar, obnoxious yelling.

Scratch that. They'd all been caught.

Great.

If Luck and Magna had just listened- no. there was no point placing the blame. Nobody knew what them running off would lead to.

"There you are." Vanessa slowly turned to see Charlotte stood behind her. "I didn't take you as the sort to run from a fight, witch."

* * *

"So." Yami stated, looking over the less than pristine captains gathered in the common room. "You still haven't managed to catch them."

"We had eight of them." Mereoleona shot back "Then that witch of yours got them out." Going by the mana lingering in the air, it had been a recent escape too.

"Vanessa's taking it seriously then." That was unusual, he normally found her on the couch with a bottle of wine when the Black Bulls played this game. Then again, the Underwater Temple had been a wake-up call for all of them, not just Finral. He'd just have to show the other captains how it's done then. Though he should at least give his squad a fighting chance. "Finral."

"Yes, Yami?" His spatial mage asked, looking slightly nervous with his grimoire already in hand. Smart kid, he'd realised what was coming at least.

"You're on their side." His eyes widened, a portal opening before Yami could finish speaking "At least try to give me a challenge." Finral was gone before anyone could react.

"Yami?" Vangeance asked.

"From the looks of things, you played fair, and expected them to play fair too." A stupid move on their part. The Black Bulls didn't play fair, they used every advantage they could get their hands on without breaking their own moral codes.

"The odds-" Charlotte to protest but Yami cut her off.

"-Are technically stacked in your favour. Sure, there's more of them and this is their home, but you're stronger. All you had to do is keep them in one place"

"You make it sound easier than it is," Rill muttered, kicking the floor. "They hit really hard." There was a bruise starting to form around his eye. Asta's handiwork most likely.

"You're right, it sounds easy. And Charlotte's right. As long as you play fair, the game's in their favour." He'd been expecting to have to round up one or two, but he'd also thought eight captains would be enough to capture and contain at least some of them properly. Apparently not. "But in order to beat a group of magic knights who specialise in being unorthodox and predictable, you can't keep playing fair. The only way to win this game is to start breaking the unspoken rules."

"You don't mean-" The new Purple Orcas captain cut himself off. Yami smirked. Finally, they were starting to think outside the box.

"You need to start confiscating their grimoires."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! It's finished! Enjoy!

Vanessa paused at the familiar burst of mana, looking up from the plans Magna had sketched in the dust in time to see Finral stumble through a portal. He was as pale as sheet, which was strange, porting to the capital and back never usually took that much out of him.

"You're back." she greeted, deciding to avoid commenting on his appearance. "is the game over?"

"Yami's playing." Finral stated, sounding dazed, his eyes wide with horror. Well, that explained why he looked like he'd just walked into hell.

"What?" Magna demanded, and Vanessa was sure she could hear the edge of fear creeping into their pyromaniac's voice.

"Yami's playing." Finral repeated, and he sounded like he wanted to wake up and have it all be a dream.

"We're doomed" Magna said, his voice little more than a whisper. "Captain Yami'll hunt us down like animals." He was shaking slightly, clearly remembering what happened the last time they'd played this game with Yami. The Captain of the Black Bulls fought dirty and was not above physically throwing them around when he felt like it. Poor Magna had been thrown into a wall last time. He'd been fine, Yami hadn't thrown him very hard, but he'd sported some impressive bruises for a while after. Then again, Magna _had_ refused to stay down the first few times Yami had beaten him, so it could be argued that it was partially his own fault.

"I don't get it." Asta said, looking between the three of them, Finral and Magna in various states of dispair, and Luck, who was smiling brightly, clearly eager to have a chnace to fight Yami again. "What's so bad about Captain Yami joining in?"

" _Yami_ ," Vanessa said, emohasising the name "like to confiscate our grimoires to make sure we stay put." She shuddered, the last time Yami played had not been fun. The Captain didn't even ask them to hand their grimoires over, just grabbed the book and moved on to find the next hapless squad member. Asta paled.

"Last time I was grimoireless for a wekk!" Magna moaned. "it awlays takes _forever_ to get it back."

"Yami expected you to try and fight him for it rather than steal it back." Vanessa said, smirking. Yami had carried Magna's grimoire around because he was expecting a confrontation from the pyromaniac, so Magna had the hardest time trying to steal it back. The _one_ time Magna avoided a fight was the one time it would be the quickest way to get what he wanted

"Luck's the only one insane enough to willingly fight Captain Yami." Magna said, glaring at her "No offence" he quickly added, turning to Luck.

"None taken!" Luck said, still smiling widely. "I'm looking forwards to this. Fighting Captain Yami is always fun!"

"You're the only one."

"When Yami confiscates our grimores, we have to get them back ourselves" Finral explained, for Asta's benifit, "we're not allowed to help each other and we can only get our own. he says he's 'testing our skills'." Vanessa laughed slightly at the last comment. 'Testing their skills' sure. Like an enemy's just going to grab an activaed grimoire in the middle of battle.

"I get to fight Captain Yami!" Luck cheered, "It's really fun. You'll need to try harder this time, Magna, it only took me a day."

"You're the only one who enjoys fighting Captain Yami you little-"

"Stop it." Vanessa scolded, using her threads to pull Magna and Luck apart. "We don't have time for pretty infighting. Yami's coming." She looked all four boys in the eye one by one "That means we need a plan. And fast."

"We aren't going to win." Finral said, finally sitting down next to them.

"No," Vanessa admitted, "we're not. But we have to give it our best shot, the captain would be disappointed in us if we didn't." She didn't need to say that a Yami disappointed in them and their progress meant a Yami that decided one on one ~~torture~~ training was a good idea and something they all needed. Nobody wanted one on one training with Yami, except maybe Luck. Yes, it meant pushing past limits and even improving drastially in some cases, but it also meant massive amounts of pain for weeks because Yami clearly didn't understand normal human limits and never called off the trianing until someone collapsed from exhaustion. Sadist.

"He's coming." Luck said, twisting to stare down the corridor.

"We need to move."

* * *

The first member of the Black Bulls Yami found was Grey.

Clearly the transformation magic user hadn't been told that he'd joined the game—Finral needed to pick up the pace with warning people if he hadn;t told nine people in the five minutes head start he'd given them—as she'd run straight into him and started apologising.

It was the work of a moment to pick her up by the back of her robe and pull her grimoire out of its holder. Grey squeaked, hiding her face in her hands. Yami sighed, they really needed to work on those insecurity issues of hers.

He dropped the wimpering girl back in the common room with the other captains where she promptly hid behind a couch.

One down, nine to go.

* * *

"He's probably going to leave whoever he finds with the other captains" Vanessa said, looking at her squadmates. They'd picked up Noelle and Gauche on their way to the top of the house, walking rather than using one of Finral's portals to reduce the chance of Yami sensing their mana. Charmy, Grey and Gordon, however, were nowhere to be seen. They must have been lower down in the house. At least one of them had been captured. "that means escape isn't an option.

"We can't leave the base either" Finral said, kicking the floor. Vanesa smiled slightly, the spatial mage was clearly still annoyed about the restrictions placed on him after the first time he played.

"We can't?" Noelle asked "but we went over the roof earlier"

"Well, _I'm_ not allowed outside the base" Finral said, and he was definately pouting.

"The first time he played he just opened a portal to the roof and nobody could get to him" Vanessa explained, ruffling Finral's hair and enjoying his embarressed flailing. "Yami considered that to be cheeting and now he has to stay inside."

"Hey, no, it's wasn't cheating!" Finral protested, like he always did when someone brought it up. "Yami told us to not get caught. I didn't get caught."

"Still cheating" Vanessa said, just to watch his reaction. Finral was always so easy to wind up.

"I'm your superior-"

"Stop it!" Noelle interrupted, "We can't afford to waste time arguing. We need a plan."

"You're right." Vanessa said, embarassed to admit that she'd lost track of the purpose of the conversation "we need a plan, one to escape when Yami inevitably catches up if nothing else."

"Exactly, so, here's what I was thinking-"

* * *

The second member of his squad Yami found was Gordon. The quietest member of the Black Bulls put up more of a fight than Grey did, and by that Yami meant that he actually managed to pull his grimoire out, but he still didn't stand a chance.

"You're rounding them up quickly," Charlotte said when he returned with Gordon. "It hasn't even been five minutes yet."

"None of the troublesome ones have shown their faces yet," Yami replied, carefully locking Gordon's grimoire away with Grey's, safely out of reach. Finral was always a pain to catch, even after Yami had his grimoire the spatial mage was evasive, the best way to take him down was to grab both Finral and his grimoire at the same time. Luck and Magna didn't know the meaning of the word fear and now that they finally had a combo attack- well, they'd be idiots to not use it. Gauche tended to just start blasting everything that moved. Asta was almost definitely going to be hard to catch and if Noelle didn't use her magic then she'd be an idiot. Charmy was only ever annoying when in the kitchen. Vanessa, usually drunk when they played this, was an unknown.

Two down, eight to go.

* * *

"So, we all know what we're doing, right?" Finral asked, looking at his squadmates. In his opinion, it was one of the dumbest plans they'd ever come up with, if it worked it'd be a miracle, but he'd been outvoted so they were doing it. The rest of the group nodded, even Gauche, who'd actually put his Marie paraphernalia away for once. Luck and Magna were both sparking with power, matching grins on their faces. Noelle was gripping her wand so tight her knuckles had turned white and Asta had both of his swords out and ready.

"Remember, the goal isn't to win" Vanessa said, wrapping her threads around the others. "there isn't really any way we _can_ win. Not against Yami. The goal is to last as long as possible before Yami inevitably catches us." grimoires were out, magic was humming through the air and Finral groaned inwardly. He really didn't want to do this.

The portal opened up in front of them an Vanessa was jumping the moment it did, dragging the rest of them after her via threads. They'd passed the point of no return.

If this failed, Finral would have to make sure to remind them that he'd said it would.

* * *

Charlotte looked up at the burst of mana, just in time to move out the way as the Black Bulls fell from the portal that had just opened in the middle of the ceiling.

What in Clover were Yami's squad up to?

Before she could do more than just reach for her grimoire, the squad attacked.

"Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Roar!" Noelle yelled, the spell flying straight towards Nozel and William over by the bar at the same time a lightning-fire combo spell was aimed at Rill, Kaiser and Dorothy who were sat on the couches. Multiple mirrors popped up over the room, an attack bouncing between them and leaving several smoking holes in the room.

Mereoleona roared, fire streaming towards the anti-magic boy.

As suddenly as they'd arrived, the Black Bulls vanished, individual portals opening up under every member of the squad and carrying them away, including the two Yami had previously rounded up.

"And that's why Finral's an absolute pain to have to try and catch," Yami said. Charlotte turned to see the Black Bulls captain stood in the doorway, the tiny member of his squad thrown over his shoulder.

"That was multiple portals," Mereoleona said, clearly annoyed that her prey had got away.

"Yep."

"At the same time"

"Yep."

"Going somewhere he _couldn't see_."

"Yep." Yami dropped the small woman on the couch. "I told you, Finral's good at what he does." That had to be an understatement. Charlotte couldn't think of anyone else who could open multiple discrete portals to an unseen destination, at the same time.

"Can your spatial mage do that?" Rill asked, patting out the small fire that had sprung up on his clothes as he turned to face William, who was soaking wet.

"No. Langris specialises in destructive spatial magic," William said, twisting his cape in an attempt to wring the water out of it. "He can't make portals."

"That's a shame." Rill said, "Oh, the two you already brought in got away." Yami shrugged, already leaving.

"I've still got their grimoires. They can't exactly do much without them." Charlotte had to admit that it was a fair point, most captains would struggle to do much without their grimoires, never mind a bunch of junior ranked knights, though, Charlotte was beginning to suspect that most, if not all, of Yami's knights were ranked far lower than their actual capabilities would suggest.

* * *

"I can't believe that actually worked," Finral said, sounding almost hysterical as he paced. "I was _so_ sure that was going to get us all captured." And yet he went through with it anyway. Then again, she couldn't complain.

"We couldn't have done it without you, Finral," Vanessa said, pulling him to sit down next to her. Without Finral they'd have failed and all had to face Yami's training.

"We just launched a surprise attack on a room full of captains," Finral said, clearly not listening to a word she was saying. "How did we get away with that?" The poor boy was clearly only fully realising just how insane the plan had been.

"Your spatial magic is amazing, that's how." Magna said, "you may be a coward but you really pull through when we need you!" Vanessa smiled, Magna always knew what to say to make people feel better.

"Hey, guys," Luck called, staring at the door "Captain Yami's here." Vanessa felt her blood turn to ice. 'Here'. Not 'coming'. 'Here'. The door opened.

* * *

"You attacked a room full of captains," Yami said, standing in the open doorway and smirking as his squad blanched. They all stared at him for a long moment, clearly shocked that he'd caught up with them that quickly.

"Scatter!" Magna yelled, grabbing Luck and racing out the door at the other end of the room. The rest of them took that as the signal to run. Yami had to admit, he hadn't seen Asta straight-up jumping out the window coming, an interesting if unnecessary tactic. Asta wasn't his target.

Finral was fast, but Yami was faster, pulling the spatial mage away from the portal before he could jump through.

"Nice try." Yami said, grabbing the green grimoire before taking all three grimoireless members of his squad back to the common room. "You still need to work on your speed though." Finral was pouting as he eyed his grimoire, clearly trying to decide if it was worth trying to grab it and run.

"Why do you do that every time?" the spatial mage asked, glaring slightly. Yami smirked. He always went for Finral specifically because if he didn't, he'd never actually catch the younger man. Finral was too good to catch if he wasn't surprised. Yami wasn't about to say that though.

"Because I can," he said instead. "You still need some one on one training though." Finral stared at him in abject horror.

"Please don't."

Four down, six to go.

* * *

"Yami got Finral." Magna groaned as Vanessa spoke. Great, they'd lost their best means of escape. "He got Gordon and Grey again too, but Finral was the target."

"Captain Yami always goes for Finral at some point though." Luck said, punching the air, pouting slightly. The Cheery Berserker wanted Magna to apologise for dragging him away. Magna refused. He wasn't about to face Captain Yami on his own. No chance. Challenging Captain Yami to a one on one fight was basically asking to get killed.

"That's because Finral is annoying as all hell to try and catch when he knows you're coming," Vanessa said, pulling out a bottle of wine for the first time since the game started. "Trust me. He does stuff like hide on top of the bookcases." Gauche, Noelle and Asta were still nowhere to be seen, as was Charmy.

"Vanessa, help me fight Captain Yami." Luck said, "You too, Magna."

"That's a suicide mission." Magna said. Vanessa shrugged.

"We're going to lose no matter what, might as well go out on our own terms." Annoyingly, he couldn't argue with that. Their choices were to either wait until Yami inevitably found them or at least try to fight him. Not the best options, but Magna knew which one was less likely to result in one on one training.

* * *

Gauche came quietly after Yami promised to let him visit his sister soon. The mirror mage refused to hand his grimoire over but he was quick to open up a communication line to Marie so Yami left him with it. Gauche wasn't about to let anything come between him and visiting his sister.

Noelle and Asta, on the other hand, were far more annoying. They had no real means of moving quickly without Finral or Vanessa, but Noelle's Sea Dragon's Roar packed and punch and combined with Asta's anti-magic, getting a hit on either of them was harder than he'd thought it would be. They were a good combo, an undeniably strong team but they still had their gaps and weak points.

Noelle had come far, she didn't freeze up at an attack anymore, but she had moments where she paused, like she doubted her own strength still. Yami had some words for Noelle's other siblings the next time he saw them.

Asta was faster than he had been, wielding the dual blades with skill Yami rarely saw. People who prefered using swords in Clover were rare enough, and most just used them as a conduit for their magic like he did, if they didn't straight up make them out of their magic entirely. For the kid to have advanced that far with no real proper teacher when it came to dual wielding, well, Yami had to admit it wasn't something he saw very often.

Despite their increased strength, though, they still lost. Noelle looked very put out when Yami grabbed her grimoire and Asta stared in horror.

"I thought they were joking about you taking our grimoires." He said as Yami dragged them both back to the common room.

Seven down, three to go.

* * *

There was a crash from outside the common room. It was very quickly followed by screams and laughter. William turned to stare at the shut door, debating about opening it to see what was going on before deciding against it. He didn't need to know what Yami's quite frankly _insane_ squad was doing. Behind him, Yami's spatial mage sighed.

"Ten." He said, watching the ceiling.

"Nine." He was counting down, but to what?

"Eight." An explosion sounded outside, the walls shaking slightly.

"Seven." More laughter and cheering could be heard from what was presumably a battle going on outside.

"Six." If William had had doubts before, they were gone. Yami's squad was incomprehensible. An insane bunch of people with unique and/or powerful magic who thought attacking a room full of captains was a good idea.

"Five." The small child that wasn't actually a child pulled out a bunch of cupcakes, offering them to the rest of the Black Bulls.

"Four." The Blue-haired woman whimpered, coming out from behind the sofa and pulling a cushion up to cover her face.

"Three." A thud. More laughter. The anti-magic boy and Nozel's sister stared at each other in horror.

"Two."

"Whoops!" The Cheery Berserker called "Sorry Magna!"

"One." The spatial mage said, not even bothering to look at the door as it was thrown open, a trio of bruised mages following their captain, three grimoires in his hand. Without a word, they joined the other seven Black Bulls on the couches.

"Half an hour," Yami said, looking at his squad. As one, they winced

"That bad huh?" The witch said. "I thought we'd at least make it to thirty-five."

"But, you successfully attacked a room full of captains, rescued two of your own, and escaped cleanly afterwards. So, I won't kill any of you this time."

"So no one on one training?" The fire mage asked, sounding hopeful. Yami laughed.

"You're still all getting one on one training," he said. The squad wilted. William had to wonder what Yami's training consisted of to have them all reacting like that.

"Please, no." The spatial mage said. "Last time I had bruises for _weeks_."

"Then you should have been faster with your portals."

"I was blindfolded!"

"Get better at sensing." Yami said, "the blindfold was your own fault anyway."

"You were throwing rocks!"

"Learn to read ki."

* * *

Julius smiled as Yami's spatial mage groaned. The younger man wasn't going to win that argument.

"That was some impressive teamwork," he said, praising the Black Bulls as he finally entered the room and made himself known. "Well done to all of you. The magic you all displayed was astounding, especially yours, Mr Roulacase. I can't think of another spatial mage that could pull off what you did."

"Julius." William said, "have you been watching this whole time?" The Wizard King looked over to his burnt and drenched captains, they'd been less than pristine before he arrived with Yami but they'd only grown worse as the Black Bulls grew bolder.

"Of course, William," Julius said, enjoying the way his captains paled. "Yami, is there another meeting room we can use? I believe the old one has taken a bit of a beating." the elder of his two strays nodded.

"Charmy, send some food up in a bit, will you? As for the rest of you, get lost. Fix yourselves up, eat something. Figure out why your plans did or didn't work."

"And our grimoires?" Noelle Silva asked

"That you're going to have to figure out how to get back yourself. Those are the rules. You lose it, you have to get it back without magic. Now, get lost." Noelle nodded, heading towards the kitchen as Yami lead the way out towards the back of the house.

"You make them get their grimoires back themselves?" Charlotte asked, hand over her own tome. Yami nodded.

"Gets them thinking about what they can do with limited magic." he said "they come up with some pretty creative stuff when they can't use their normal methods. Luck just challenges me to a fight for it though."

"I can imagine," Julius said, taking his seat at the head of the table. "You have quite the unusual squad after all."

"Just get to the point." Mereoleona interrupted. "We didn't come to talk about the worst squad."

"Oh, but you did." Julius said, smiling at the lioness "they're exactly what I wanted to show you today."

"A bunch of commoners and disowned nobles?" Nozel asked, clearly unimpressed.

"How that bunch of commoners and disowned nobles worked together" Julius corrected, looing at his dishevelled captains. "their outstanding teamwork is exactly what I was thinking of when I came up with the idea for the royal knights. they don't just fight alongside each other, they actively combine their spells and techniques to make themselves stronger." something very, very few Magic Knights actually did. Oh, they could fight alongside each other well enough, but to actually actively combine spells? That was rare. "I'm sure that, had you met them individually before today, you would have looked at the individual abilities of Yami's squad and dismissed the majority of them." the Magic Knights as a whole had a very bad habit of underestimating opponents with low mana or unusual magic. "individually, they don't really look like much, but when they work together they're quite formidable." He paused to let that sink in before asking his big question to actually get his captains thinking "If this is what a bunch of Junior Magic Knights are capable of when they work together, how strong would a group of Senior Magic Knights be?" Not that the rank of Yami's squad accurately reflected their skills.

"Still think I've got the worst squad?" Yami asked, sitting back and pulling out another cigarette.

"Yami." William said, turning to face the older man. "while it's true that you may not have the worst squad, they're all _insane_."

"Doesn't mean they aren't good. And you can't deny that they come up with some creative stuff."

"They attacked a room full of captains."

"Never said they weren't stupid."

"They're stronger then they look," Mereoleona said, and Julius was grateful that she interrupted before a proper fight could break out. "I'll give them that. Your spatial mage is incredibly skilled." Indeed. Julius had yet to see another with Finral Roulacase's skill in speed and accuracy when it came to portals.

"Your commoner fire mage." Charlotte said, "how does he keep going for that long? He should run out of mana long before he actually stops throwing fireballs."

"You mean Magna?" Yami asked, "Pure stubbornness mostly, that and a refusal to let Luck beat him without a proper fight."

"Sometimes, it's less about the amount of mana a mage has and more about the degree of control they possess," Julius stated. "Magna Swing is an excellent example of this. Still, the aim of today was to get you all to witness true teamwork in action. The next step is figuring out how to get your own squads to work together rather than just alongside each other." He paused "Yami, just how did you get them to cooperate like that?"

"Physical training." the dark mage replied, "having high mana doesn't stop someone from just punching you." he gestured to Rill's black eye. "they hated it so much they planned a coup and tried to overthrow me. It didn't work and they're never going to try again." Well, that sounded ominous.

"They tried to overthrow you?" Nozel asked. "And you let them stay in your squad?" Julius had no doubt the royal captain would eviscerate any of his squad bold enough to try that.

"I made them fight their way across a strong magic region and then explore a new dungeon right after. Both were done without Finral's spatial magic." Julius had to hide his wince. That cannot have been an easy thing to do. No wonder the Black Bulls weren't about to try overthrowing their captain again.

"Right. Thank you for that insight Yami. I wouldn't recommend pushing your squads so far that they organise a coup though." Yami shrugged.

"Worked, didn't it?" Well, Julius couldn't argue with that.

There was a knock on the door before anyone else could speak, Charmy Pappitson and her sheep cooks quickly coming in and serving some food before leaving as suddenly as they'd arrived.

"Do you have anything else to tell us about the Royal Knight exams?" Charlotte asked

"Marx and I will be finalising the teams for the exam tomorrow, so I'd like a list of everyone from your squads that will be competing before we leave today." Julius turned to the captain of the Black Bulls "That means actual names, Yami. Not just how many."

"Noelle, Finral, Luck, Magna, Asta." Yami said, "nobody else wanted to do it."

"I'm sending Yuno, Klaus, Mimosa, Hamon and Langris," William said

* * *

"Hey, goldiguts," Yami called as Julius dismissed the meeting.

"Yes, Yami?" William asked

"I've got an idea for a good team-up between one of mine and one of yours, but Julius probably won't accept it if you don't back me up."

"I'm listening."

* * *

"Hey, Julius" Yami called "I know you're going to be sorting out the teams for the exam tonight, and you've probably got teams in mind, but Goldiguts and I both think putting these two together is worth considering." Julius glanced down at the two names on the piece of paper before looking up at the two men he'd taken in. Yami and William had both come so far from the lonly children he'd first met. He couldn't be more proud. Hmm, maybe Marx did have a point when he kept calling the two captains his children in private.

"Are you sure?" he asked, double checking the paper. "Youve both complained about how these two act around each other multiple times." In fact, Yami had explicitly asked that the two in question didn't get paired together for missions.

"They have issues." William said "but those issues need to be dealt with before they get any worse than they already are." Yes, he had a point. The last thing clover needed was two of the stronger Magic Knights to start fighting each other in the middle of a battle rather than the enemy.

"Besides," Yami said, "they could be incredible together if they can get their heads out of their asses long enough to work together." Julius smiled, for a moment it sounded like Yami was talking about him self and William.

"Are you sure you're not related?" The sudden question came from teh youngest captain, Rill, who was looking at them both curiously. "Because you're acting like a pair of siblings trying to get something from their dad." behind him, Charlotte hastily clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughter. Jack, on the other hand, didn't bother hiding his. Nor did Mereoleona.

"What the hell kid?" Yami demanded "Do I look like this masked idiot to you?" Julius smiled slightly. Yami was as easily irritated as ever then.

"Yami," he called, "no killing the other captains."

"I wasn't going to kill the damn kid." Yami said "Just- injure."

"Yami,"

"Fine," Charlotte lost her battle with laughter, even William and Nozel were smiling slightly.

"I believe we've covered everything you wanted us to cover, Julius." Nozel said, "it's getting late and some of us need to get back to our squads.

"Yes. We have, if you'd be so kind as to return us to the captial, Yami." Julius said, turning to the captain of the Black Bulls.

"Finral!" Yami called,

"You've still got my grimoire." the spatial mage said, entering the room "I can't portal to the capital without it."

"Right. Of course you can't." Yami muttered, "don't think this gets you out of having to get it back yourself."

"We both know Vanessa would take it out of spite if it did." Finral replied, quickly opening a portal, "I'd take you straight to your headquaters, but I've never been there."

"Thank you, Mr Roulacase. I will see you at the upcoming exams." Julius said as his captians filtered through the portal. "Yami, it's quite the squad you've got. Look after them." The captain of the Black Bulls nodded. Julius smiled. Yami really had come far from the lonely teenager on the beach.

He took one last look back before stepping through the portal, just in time to see the rest of Yami's squad crowding around him.

A foreigner for a squad leader, he'd been called mad when he suggested it but, looking at the Black Bulls, Julius knew he'd made the right choice. The Black Bulls were the best weapon the Clover Kingdom had.


End file.
